Dad told me about 50 times that I’d better watch out, because one day that brother of mine would be bigger than me and able to lay me low. Whatever, I said. Of course, dad didn’t know that a few decades later I would find myself crying my way through the Celtic Woman’s Oh, Holy Night. (Aren’t they lovely in… Read More
When the Day Is Hard before the Alarm Sounds
On Wednesday I woke up at my normal 3:00 a.m. Wrote a blog post. And then stretched out on the couch downstairs to go back to sleep for a few hours, like I do most nights of the week. Except I could not go back to sleep. And on this particular Wednesday I was going to be making the first… Read More
Comfort for You (with Enough for Leftovers)
I left the writer’s retreat so that I could teach Spanish on Friday afternoon. With a few minutes to spare, I decided to swing into the church and get a hug from my husband. The parking lot was full, which was weird for a Friday when usually only my husband is there working on his sermon. I wonder what’s going… Read More
Severe Heartache and How To Treat It
I was just on Facebook and a friend had posted that people should have to pass drug tests in order to receive welfare. Then I sat down on the floor to fold underwear and was thinking about people doing drugs. (Us girls, we do tend to think on a round-about.) My thoughts went back a few months to April and… Read More
What’s All This Stress and Pain Gonna Get Ya
Every so often I get enough of a leisurely day to pull out the Fleischmann’s. I’m undisciplined in the kitchen (although I’m hoping to grow out of that), but I do love to make a good yeast bread. Cinnamon rolls, homemade tortillas, or cinnamon rolls. Bread is like a garden except 69 hours less work. You plant some yeast (which… Read More
Making Room
We came home with a little instrument, and every night I had to insert it into the palate-spreading apparatus in the top of my girl’s mouth. (When I had braces they called it a palate splitter, which seemed more appropriate.) One time I started the turn and didn’t realize the tool wasn’t inserted into the hole correctly. Jabbed that girl… Read More
Smoosh a Bunch of Bad Stuff Together And Whatavya Got?
It makes my husband crazy that I recycle. (Possibly related to the number of times he has tripped over empty milk jugs in the garage?) I think if it were not for me he would throw old mail and plastic containers in the garbage. You heard me right. So I do not have the nerve to even mention to him… Read More
When Your Heart Hurts Long
If I am going to be sick, I want to be very sick. Sick enough that no one expects me to go to work or fold underwear or bake chicken or pour my own apple juice. The worst sickness is the one that forces you through a box of Kleenex but doesn’t cause anyone to gasp at how you look… Read More
Tiptoe through All of It
I snagged a glorious 20 minutes on the phone with a dear friend yesterday, while she chewed on a Costco dog and I inhaled a Subway flatbread pizza. The cuisine of busy working moms. We talked about our broken mommas –hers with more busted ribs than a person can count on one hand, thanks to a head-on, and mine with… Read More
You Need the One Who Knows Your Struggle
I may lose all credibility when I tell you this, but my son has talked me into watching a few Dr. Who episodes. It’s mostly ridiculous science fiction, which is why I scoffed for a long time, but The Doctor is quirky and appealing. Then I found out he he had secret pain, having lost his entire race, including his… Read More